AJ vows he’ll keep it clean

ANTHONY JOSHUA says he would have been banned for life had he failed TWO drugs tests like Alexander Povetkin.

WBO, WBA and IBF heavyweight champion AJ (inset) puts his belts on the line against his Russian mandatory challenger at Wembley Stadium on September 22.

But Povetkin has gained a reputation as a drug cheat after two arranged fights fell through after failed tests.

Joshua said: “Even if I missed one drugs test or was an hour late, then people will say, ‘Oh, he must have been doping’.

“But I know I would never be able to box again because I would be made an example of.

“I would rather take a loss than be done for doping. Being done for doping is far worse for your legacy than taking a loss. I don’t see doping as a way of making yourself better. If a person is better than you, then work harder, train harder. You don’t need to dope.” Povetkin was caught taking meldonium, which increases blood flow, in May 2016, putting a line through a challenge for Deontay Wilder’s WBC belt. Then a clash with Bermane Stiverne the following December was pulled when he failed a test for muscle building drug ostarine. But Povetkin insists he was innocent all along. He said: “For me, it was very, very suspicious. “I know that I am clean and I know that I was clean back then.

“I don’t know what happened but, at the end of the day, all I can say is that I was accused of wrongdoing when I wasn’t.”